It feels like damning the book with faint praise to say so, but isn’t that exactly how short-story collections generally work? A couple are excellent, most are good, a couple don’t really work. That said, there is an inevitable danger in accelerating SF hype into hyperspace. There are enough classic Chiang shorts to make this collection something special
Now is the time for the rest of us to discover his unique imagination.” That “rest of us” is, perhaps, ill-judged (don’t you rest-of-us me, sunshine: I’ve been reading Chiang for decades), but there’s no denying that it is an appealing prospect. “In the world of the science-fiction short story Chiang’s work is legendary. Picador’s advance publicity for this, only his second collection, betrays a certain excitability. He continues on his slow-paced way, occasionally releasing another carefully thought-through, precisely worked SF short to the world. In 2016 Chiang came to the attention of a much larger audience when his “Story of Your Life” was adapted for the big screen as Arrival, starring Amy Adams. He has never published a novel, yet his 15 stories have won all the genre’s most prestigious awards: Hugos and Nebulas, Sturgeons, Tiptrees and BSFAs galore – more than two dozen prizes in all. Eleven further stories have appeared since 2000. During the 90s he published only three more pieces. His first story, “Tower of Babylon”, appeared in 1990. P erhaps the world’s least hasty writer, Ted Chiang has built his fiercely dedicated fanbase slowly but surely.
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